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Topic: Super Hero/Comic Book Movies (Read 103900 times)

I remember reading in a Red Sonja comic that the character wears a skimpy top and bottom to distract her mostly male adversaries. WW's costume isn't quite as trimmed down, but could be explained as a similar tactic.

I'm with E in general though, the comic costumes just don't translate well to the big screen. Hawkeye is one of my favoite Marvel characters. Initially, I was really bothered that they weren't going to use the purple and pointed mask in the movie, but after seeing how Cap looks, I realize it just wouldn't work right. Styles and protective gear have changed since these characters were created, so it only makes sense to modernize them, just like they modernize the stories (e.g. Iron Man as a captive in the Vietnam war vs. Afghanistan).

Here's a surprising twist though: I was reading my latest Avengers comic and noticed a new costume for Hawkeye. He just showed up with it, so not sure if I missed a story around why he changed, but it is MUCH more similar to the film look vs. his old costume. I wonder if we will start to see more of this trend, where the comic initially set up the movie, now it looks like the movie will drive some of the appearances we see in the comics. It makes sense I guess for branding, but seeing stuff like that always makes me feel like someone sold out.

I'm sure marketing is going to drive some of that, having the movies reflect in the comics. In some of the early IDW GI Joe comics Hawk looks like Dennis Quaid but they got away from that.

Generally, I'd rather see the various heroes keep their comic look in the books unless there's something in the story that informs the change. But the films, I'm generally in favor of modern, real world looks for the heroes.

E...

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"I sell the drugs that keep you people from seeing dragons at night." - Gus "Psych"

My main problem with some of the costumes, and not just this one, is that the comic versions that everyone loves don't necessarily work in the real world. Not only do they not always look good, Wonder Woman, but they don't seem practical.

Wolverine in his yellow/blue/black outfit is classic, but I'm going to be honest, the leather outfit from the X-Men films was way more badass for the real world. The Captain America outfit from the film? Liked it much better than the tights version we're getting in Avengers (at least based on the promo photos).

There are outfits that I like in the comics but when you think about what a superhero would wear in the real world in 2011 there's a big difference. Someone not bulletproof, like Batman, is going to use rip-stop, puncture resistant and bulletproof material wherever possible, not go to Jo-Ann Fabrics and buy a bunch of spandex. The only exception I can think of to this is Spider-Man. I think the spandex look from the films worked.

The comic costumes VS movie costumes was the subject of a brief quip in the first X-Men film. Wolverine joked about the leather jumpsuits, saying "You don't actually go outside in these things, do you?", to which Cyclops responded "What, you think we run around wearing yellow spandex?" The Wolverine yellow uniform is iconic, but in a real world setting it would probably look silly.

This is where I think that the Marvel movie properties have been a bit more real-world however fantastic the stories may be. The X-Men's uniforms were based in function. Magneto's helmet had a purpose: to protect himself from Xavier's telepathy. And the same goes for the Avengers characters: Captain America's uniform was protective. Iron Man's armor is based on technology. Thor's garb is more acceptable since his origins are otherworldly, but it's still got a function as armor.

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"You were entrusted to lead the Republic." - Vote for Ven Zallow from THE OLD REPUBLIC in figure polls!

I'm skeptical. I loved Lobo comics back in the day. But to do it right, you'd need to make something approaching the violence level of the Hostel films. Not going to happen. So it'll be corny. And it'll be Green Lantern all over again.

The script treatment I read years ago was awful... something like Lobo comes to earth, meets a 6-year-old girl, and they become friends.

Not sure how I feel about this one. I liked that the Avengers movies all tied together, but now they're going to bring Guardians into the same story? How many Marvel films are all going to be based on this? I'm just worried that we're going to start getting Silver Surfer, a new Fantastic Four, maybe even an X-Men reboot all tying into this Thanos/Cosmic Cube junk, when there's much more fertile ground to cover over the decades of stories. I sure hope they can figure out a way to get Hank Pym and Wasp into the lineup, and gear up for some Ultron action. That's a big fan favorite and perfect for the high tech world of today. It also leads to so many other great storylines (Vision, Wonderman, Jocasta, etc.).